Cleveland Will Pay $6 Million to the Family of Tamir Rice

The city of Cleveland has settled a federal lawsuit filed by the family of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black child who was fatally shot by police while playing with a pellet gun.

Cleveland will pay $6 million to settle the wrongful death suit, which the family filed two weeks after Rice was gunned down by Officer Timothy Loehmann, a rookie cop who started firing almost immediately after arriving at the scene.

It’s a major turn around for the city, which accused Rice of causing his own death by playing with the replica gun in a city park in an open-carry state and initially tried to charge the family for the ambulance which responded to the scene.

Though a grand jury ultimately declined to indict Loehmann and his partner, Frank Garmback, the wrongful death suit was broader than the criminal inquiry and focused on whether the officers—who began firing within two seconds of arriving at the scene—acted recklessly.